If the industry is so hostile to the idea of women being in construction, why would / should women choose it? (How to manage the risks of being a woman in construction)

If men don't like the construction industry, why would women?

What do women have to gain by going into the construction industry instead of another industry that is already accommodating to her needs?

What are the risks and what are the potential gains?

Is it worth it in the end?

For the actual reasons why women should choose construction, look at
this earlier blog; in this post I am going to focus on the things you should
consider when making that choice and the tools you can use to manage your own
career better.

Being an ex-site manager I thought it might be useful to look at this
though the eyes of the Health & Safety principles.

Eliminate

Reduce

Isolate

Control

PPE

Discipline

But first to the reasons why they are needed.

Let’s get this clear, it’s not that the industry and everyone in it is
hostile to women. More that, as we highlighted last week, isolated groups or individuals
can have a serious impact. On top of that there are less “hostile” actions such
as sub-conscious bias and over-protection that can impact significantly on individuals’
careers.

Your role in the sector will dictate not only the types of challenges
you might face but also the extent of the effect that they are able to have on
you.

For example, if you are discriminated against in an office environment and
work with other women in a similar role who are understanding and supportive
and you are aware of the internal procedures to follow you are likely to feel
supported. Especially if the role also
provides you with a good work life balance with regards to working hours (less
than 37.5 hours per week), challenging work and routes to promotion.

If, though, you face discrimination on an isolated site where you are
the only female (substitute gender here for any minority) and don’t feel there
is support from your colleagues because they joined in a little and you‘re
unaware of internal HR procedures because you have so little interaction from
them, you might not feel as supported.
Particularly, if you are also working long hours (<50hrs per week
average), have work that does not challenge you and have been unable to
progress you career.

These are, of course, two extremes; the point being that the industry is
not hostile to everyone all the time, but it’s handy to recognise the
situations that are likely to be most difficult. You can then decide if you are prepared to
risk being put into these situations or not and manage around it where
possible.

When I worked in the sector I felt that the fact that I was a woman was
unimportant; it was my ability to do my job that counted. As my career
progressed I realised that simply wasn’t true; just because it didn't affect my
ability to do my job, didn’t mean that other people wouldn’t see it that way
and treat me different anyway.

This is why I would say it’s not that you shouldn’t work in construction,
it’s that you should go in prepared; so let’s use health and safety tools to
help us do that: -

Eliminate – First do a bit of reading - find out some of the experiences
people have had in the sector and decide what you would not be prepared to risk.
Eliminate the roles with high occurrences of behaviour that you would find
unacceptable and keep the ones with smaller amounts. People have different
tolerance levels so remember to pick what’s right for you and no one else.

Reduce – Now look a bit deeper - which companies provide strong support
and are as a minimum aware of these issues? Try and pick a company that at
least acknowledges you might have a different experience to men.

Isolate – Or in this case don’t - build yourself a network that you can
relate to. Inside or outside the organisation; this does not have to be women
or be all the same thing. You might have a senior male manager as a mentor, some
male site managers that you have a drink with once a month and a formal
external networking group for women that you go to three times a year. What’s important
is that you take a proactive stance by putting this network in place. NB if you have a networking group you would like to see on our links page just drop us a line and let us know.

Control – Make sure that you talk to your managers on site about your
expectations - tell them what you want from the role and where you want to go.
If you think you can discuss with them what should happen if behaviours occur,
keep it professional and positive and explain you’re sure things will be fine
but this way everyone is on the same page. Also keep a diary if unacceptable
behaviour happens; you don’t need to use it but its there as a back-up in case
you do.

PPE – Dress smart and professionally -
your clothes say a lot about you, even though they probably shouldn’t. If you
want to progress, dress for where you want to go. Obviously, roles like site
engineering or trades will murder a good suit before the week is out, but when you go to
meetings in Head Office, or for other site roles that don’t have you wading
around in man-holes, dress up. Show you
are a professional first, a builder second and a woman third when you are at
work.

Discipline – If unacceptable behaviour happens, know in advance how you
are going to deal with it. This might
seem negative, but it will give you a proactive plan and help you to feel in
control of the situation. Be aware of your HR policies and try and get to know
your HR team well, so if an issue occurs you have a friend to speak to not just
a colleague.

You’ll find there are a lot of companies who genuinely want to increase
their numbers of women and simply do not know, or understand, some of the
challenges they face. Make it your mission to help them; don’t be ashamed of
your gender or difference and don’t let others let you be demeaned, or demean
you. Most people (myself included) say crass things because they don’t know any
better; if all women in the sector started educating it a little I think we’d
find ourselves, men and women alike, all a little bit better off.